114 - Kevin Kelly

The first lesson in mountain
travel is that you go like a
river, with the grain of the
land, along valleys, where
you find food, shelter and
character. The passes are
gates, and the peaks
beckon on.
Sunrise at Periche Sherpa
settlement in Everest National
Park, Nepal
.
LOW-RENT
HIMALAYAS
T
HIS STUPENDOUS MOUNTAIN SYSTEM,
from Afghanistan's Hindu Kush to the edge
of Burma, is more accessible to low-key individual exploration than most lesser ranges.
These mountains ooze lessons and education that justify
as a pilgrim's goal. A matrix of native settlements
enables one to come into the presence of the hills without a tent, without carrying food, without kitchen gear,
without the bondage of equipment that would normally
hinder entry. But the support of the local culture also
eases a reach into the remoter ranges, so if you need to
scale peaks, things are often simplified for those with a
casual approach. The message is this: for the price of an
airline ticket and little else, a flexible person, couple, or
(if you're crazy) group can be roaming toward Everest or
a neglected alpine flower meadow. I offer guidance
through local bureaucratic paper mazes and how to
From New Jersey, avoid them if possible, tips on what areas are suited for
Kevin Kelly's meticulous, bold,
cheap traveling has led t o the strolling, which high-altitude regions are open to cheap
"Traveling in Asia" survey in investigation, where to borrow equipment there, the
The Next Whole Earth Catalog availability of food, and sources of information - bioiJp. 400) and "Bicycle Haiku - logical guides, geological histories, cultural readings, and
Ride across America" in the
Winter 1980 CQ. guides to the trails and mountains, along with maps,
some easy to find, some not.
-SB
Text and Photographs
by Kevin Kelly
BOX 428 SAUSALITO CA 94966
Once, I squatted o n a high windy
Himalayan pass, picked o n the ground
and filled my coat pockets with deep
ocean fossils, large ancient spirals of
ammonites that littered the ridge. Something big and mysterious has
been happening.
Big and mysterious, these heaps and
humps of rock attract pilgrims either by
the gravity of their huge masses, or by
the electricity of human lives. T h e
Himalayas are unique as mountains
because a circuit of valley cultures
enables one to step lightly in these
hills without a ball and chain of baggage.
For the most part the Himals are
accessible in sneakers. I've used them
up to 18,000 feet and have gone months
with a sleeping bag and map alone,
gliding along footpaths that connect one
mountain village inn to another. That's
traveling as any native Himalayan would.
ment, and for stoking up for mean hills,
we bring treats, fanatically rationed.
If you need or want to bring food, the
best way is to buy staples from the last
village or bazaar to support you until
the next one. Kerosene for fueling
cookstoves is available in the boondocks. Recently dehydrated foods made
locally are selling in Katmandu (Trekkers
Foods, G.P.O. Box 304, Katmandu,
Nepal). Ordinarily we bring n o other
supplies save a bag of treats and a day's
worth of emergency meals.
you sit in the cab (grand view, horribly
bumpy). For half-fare you float over the
cargo in back.
1
Jeeps begin where the paved road ends
and continue way beyond where a
sensible person would halt them. No
one drives them unless they are imaginatively overloaded with rice bags and
pajama-clad passengers. Rates are fixed
by the price of petrol, about half again
the cost of the same distance in a bus.
If I wanted to get someplace very different, real quick, I'd look for a jeep.
There are small cities in the Himalayas,
tucked into valleys, crowded with
people. N O Sierra wilderness here.
Roads thread to meet the towns, so it's
easy to begin by coming in o n wheels,
then going on foot to villages beyond.
Where people are, there's food; where
people aren't, you've got to bring your
own, but that's nearing the edge of lowrent access. It's hard to say exactly, yet
an enormous area of the Himalayan
range is within a day's walk of someone's
house, and perhaps a meal.
1
FOOD
Near Mount Everest so many expeditions have unloaded leftover supplies to
villagers (cheaper than portering it back
down) that the zaniest goods can be
purchased in lone shepherds' huts at
16,000 feet. The Koreans had just been
up before me, so I was offered hot
peppered eels in cans. Last year it was
Swiss freeze-dried peaches, in pouches.
Strange, but welcomed, manna.
Outside of this unusual area and
throughout the central Himals, meals
are dished in a customary way. For
about 25 cents you get all the rice,
boiled lentils and dollops of greens you
can eat in one sitting. Mountain porters,
who do beastlike work, will nonchalantly
gobble up mounds of this grub for
their 25 cents' worth, making whatever
little piles you wolf down seem dainty.
Tea with meals is dangerously sweet anc
costs three cents extra. In the north
expect lots of potatoes instead of lots of
rice. A meal in Ladakh or northern
Pakistan, where barley meal and unleavened bread are staples, will go for
50 cents. The only hints of variety are
eggs and milk, occasional glimpses of
yak or goat meat, and pieces of fruit.
After a month, grumbling starts about
food boredom and nutrition, but this
is what those little barefoot men who
carry 70 pounds up rocky slopes eat.
Studies have shown this diet to be sufficient for a healthy visitor. For excite-
SHELTER
For buying a meal you get to sleep free
in your own sleeping bag wherever there
is room - o n a floor, a loft, or the
porch outside. O n popular paths
there is a 30-cent charge for a string bed.
In high altitudes look for empty shepherd
huts. Once free, Tibetan monasteries
are now 50 cents. Accommodations
around Pokhara and the houseboats of
Dal Lake, Kashmir, are classed "hippydeluxe," relatively extravagant. Longterm leases are often made there. O n
the move in the hills, time your journey
to arrive at a village with a shop or inn
by evening, buy a meal, sleep wherever
they put you, and head off in the
morning. Second best, ask at any prosperous-looking farmhouse for lodging
and a meal.
WHEELS
.
Cruise into the mountains o n a local
bus. For a couple of dollars, you're
there. Your luggage goes o n top, so
don't leave valuables within easy reach
of a sly hand. 16 you stop over, the
cheapest inns are found around the bus
station. Keep in mind trucks hauling
freight in the hills, often more frequent
than buses. For two-thirds the bus fare
Millers waiting for
wheat to be milled,
Kulu Valley, India
PLANES
Himalayan planes are a great deal.
Apparently locals think so too, as they
are heavily booked. Not chartered
planes, but scheduled runs of small
craft to remote airstrips. Sample fares:
Katmandu to Jomson - $20
Rawalpindi to Chitral - $10
Rawalpindi to Gilgit - $18
They can save you weeks of walking and
the money spent o n the way. Due to
unpredictable mountain weather, reservations are a lie. T o fly in and commence walking is dangerous because of
altitude sickness. How much sweeter
to fly out after a long march to a far
corner by climbing aboard a STOL
craft, rising above the tiny clearing and
zooming over passes you so quietly just
crossed. I'd ride these planes for the
view even if 1 had no business going there.
WALKING
Walking is the swiftest way to see it all.
THE COEVOLUTION QUARTERLY FALL 1981
Monks from Tiske Monastery
at 11,000 feet i n Ladakh. Called
"Little Tibet," it's now a part
of India
A walker who sweats up and over a
ridge will win respect from mountain
folk for sharing the same toil they must.
Use the familiar art of backpacking as
elsewhere, except no more than a handful of items are needed: needle and
thread, pocketknife, a bit of soap,
plastic bags, and medicines. In a dark
land without electricity, candles are the
most economical light. One candle
should last three days. Also bring a
small plastic flashlight. Candles and
spare batteries are available in bazaars.
Up high in the snow you must have eye
protection just to discern your way.
When I need them I make Eskimo-style
slit goggles out of cardboard, though
sufficiently opaque sunglasses will work,
too. The only essential possessions are
a sleeping bag and warm coat. One way
to travel light, yet high, is to trek around
simply and then rent the fancy gear for
peak assaults. Tents, down garments,
stoves, ice crampons, and other equipment are for rent in Darjeeling, Katmandu, Srinagar, Pokhara, and
Namche Bazaar.
PORTERS
Porters are not eager to do the work of
beasts, but they are desperate. Unless
you enjoy dealing with desperate men,
1 say have nothing to do with porters.
Situations may arise when you need
one. Agree unambiguously beforehand:
1) how far the porter is to go; 2) how
many days (how fast) he is to travel; 3)
whether he needs to return (you're
obliged to pay one-half return wages);
and 4) how much he is to be paid. The
current rate is about $2.50-$3 per day,
with a load of 70 pounds. Be ridiculously
clear about the agreement. Arrange so
that porters secure their own food, or
you will soon need additional porters
to carry porters' food, ad infinitum.
They can be hired in towns with the
help of trekking agencies, restaurant
owners, hotel managers, or hired
on the spot.
GUIDANCE
Guides cost about $5 per day. They do
not carry loads - they only guide and
translate. Instead, use the cost of a guide
for two days to purchase this book:
A Guide to Trekking in Nepal
by Stephen Bezruchka
1972, 1981; 256pp.
4th Edition
$8.95 postpaid from:
The Mountaineers
719 Pike Street
Seattle, WA 98101
or Whole Earth
Household Store
BEASTS O F B U R D E N
Pack animals carry more, complain less.
Unless you buy an animal outright, the
owner comes along. Naturally he prefers
to lead his animals along routes of
known provisions, so fierce negotiation
is required to get him to go where you
need his animals the most -places
without provisions. Fifteen dollars per
day is not uncommon. They make the
best sense with two or more travelers.
When loading, balance is more critical
than weight. Retain fragiles and valuables with you -stuff is forever slipping
off cliffs.
BOX 428 SAUSALITO CA 94966
guide you with a steady hand, accurate
details, and clear instructions. Specific
trailways are annotated station by
station,, distances reckoned as hours
walked. He has expanded information
on hiring porters and guides and finding
Nepal maps, and hopes to release you
from these. His background info on the
hills and trekking is,unsurpassed, and
applicable to the rest of the Himalayas.
As 1 can attest from my own travels and
research, what's crammed into this
volume is not available elsewhere, not
even in Nepal. You'd be foolish not to
take him along.
MONEY
Here's a curious game - no one will take
your honest local money if it's ripped,
torn, or patched, so neither should you
accept it from another. For best results
bring crisp new money from the bank.
Nor should you bring large denominations into the hills; as a courtesy take
the smallest ones you can stand to carry.
If you travel simply, without porters or
guides, it should cost about $3 a day.
Riding buses and jeeps, $5 to
$10 minimum.
For as long as you wish, Bezruchka will
No time to afford cheap thrills? Then
pay your dues to an adventure broker
and have a wonderful sojourn to the
identical places we go. The 1981 edition
of the Worldwide Adventure Travel
Guide (544 pp., $10.95 postpaid from
Ziff-DavisBooks, 1 Park Avenue, New
York, NY 10016)publishes descriptions
and synopses of a dozen companies
specializing in Himalayan journeys. Of
these, Mountain Travel (1398 Solano
Avenue, Albany, C A 94706; catalog $2)
seeks the most interesting places. They
provide you with all. Trips average
three to four weeks. The going rate is
$50 to $90 per day [also reviewed
N W E C p. 4301.
Friend of mine, veteran Himal freak,
plans his $10 per day excursions thusly:
from the Mountain Travel catalog he
picks a juicy trek, spies out the itinerary,
then follows it, figuring if they can
move a group of 40 along it, he can d o it
with a companion. Organized groups
receive no special invitations into
restricted areas - they are allowed if
and when everyone is, so reading the
catalog is also a clever way to learn what
places have just been "opened."
MAPS
There is only one perfect map, and you
live on it. The rest approximates it, in
degrees. Concerning the Himalayas,
there's nothing but approximation,
some sections worse than others. Foreign
grants produce a few maps of famous
Nepal. Pakistan and India would
prefer no one have maps of their touchy
border areas, the Himals. So the best
map5 are alien. The U.S. Army M a p
Series U502 covers the range at a scale
of one inch = four miles. These were
once available by mail from the Defense
Mapping Agency, but are now out of
print. Xerox them by going to a map
depository, asking for the index, and locating the group of sheets you'll need,
usually N O 44 or N G 45 for Nepal.
Besides the Library of Congress, most
state universities are map depositories:
c/o M.S. Holloway, 583 1 Hampton
Court, San Diego, C A 92120.
The best bargains are Mandala Maps
(one inch = 2.0 miles) cheaply reproduced o n blueprint paper, sold everywhere on Freak Street, Katmandu, for
$1.50. Not available (to our knowledge)
in the United States. They are more
than adequate for hiking along the
popular routes they cover.
A tourist map of Himachal Pradesh (one
inch = 5.8 miles) and a trekking guide
map for the Darjeeling region (both free)
are put out by the Indian Tourist
Bureau, Jan Path, New Delhi, India. A
blatantly crude yet informative (no scale)
map of trekking footpaths and bridle
routes in Kashmir and Ladakh is available from Nest and,Wings, P.O. Box
4531, New Delhi, India, 110016, for SO
cents, and is also available in Srinagar.
The Pakistan Tourist Information
Center, 12 East 65th Street, New York,
NY 1002 1, publishes free, dinky tourist
"maps" of the following areas which
show jeep routes and rest bungalows:
the Skardu, Swat, Gilgit, Hunza, and
Kashan Valleys.
For thewhole detailed sweep of the
Himals in one glance, I constantly refer
to the common Bartholomew's
Physical Map of the Indian Subcontinent (one inch = 75 miles). It indicates
contoured elevation, major pack animal
and jeep trails, and many secondary hill
roads ($6.85 postpaid from American
Map Company, 1926 Broadway, New
York, NY 10023). [The AmericanMap
Company is also reviewed in N W E C
2nd Edition, p. 398.1
Better than any are the maps and
guides published by the Japanese, often
by Rock a n d Snow magazine,
in Japanese.
WHEN?
-
In the fall farmers have surplus from
their recent harvest to sell you food but they may run low by spring. Most
expeditions schedule climbs in the fall
-old snow is gone, new snow comes
later, and every valley has perfect
weather. You can go at times other than
fall, at your own loss.
The lower foothills are delightful in
winter. Summer in the eastern half of
the Himals is spoiled by monsoon rain.
Trekking ceases because: 1) paths are
muddy, slippery and treacherous; 2)
vital bridges vanish into swollen rivers;
3) the trailsides brim with bloodsucking
leeches waiting to crawl through your
clothes and sink their fangs into your
blood. As any school kid knows, you
then need cigarettes to burn them off.
The Vale of Kashmir is okay year round.
Its alpine meadows and wildflower
valleys are best in spring. For Ladakh
and Lahoul-Spiti, summer is the only
sane season, since the passes close the
rest of the year. Pakistan's highlands
have summers that are warm but bearable, winters that are cold but passable
in the valleys; T h e mountains, ordinarily
desolate, are Saturnian in winter.
MOUNTAINEERING
One twilight in the Khumbu Glacier
region a skimpily outfitted fellow passed
me o n his way to a solo overnight
ascent of a 20,000 foot snow peak. Why
and how he did this is described expertly
in the vast array of mountaineering
literature (every climber seems to be a
writer). The Eastern Mountain Sports
catalog (Vose Farm Road, Peterborough,
N H 03458) peddles appropriate tools for
the job and includes a condensed book
list. The bibliography in Bezruchka's
The most accurate maps of the more
fabulous regions of Nepal are gorgeous
masterpieces known as Schneider maps,
printed with perfection (one inch = 0.4
miles) by Geographische Buchhandlung,
Rosenthal G , D-8000 Miinchen 2, West
Germany. They are exquisite and expensive. You don't fold them: you roll
them carefully. Mountain Travel
sells six Schneider maps of various parts
of Nepal for $10 each postpaid. Price
list free.
Smaller-scale (one inch = 12.3 miles),
more affordable maps for general use in
Nepal are sold for $7 postpaid (24" x 44")
by the American-Nepal Map Project,
Mundu, near Vale of
Kashmir, Banihal Pass
THE COEVOLUTIONQUARTERLY FALL 1981
A Guide to Trekking in Nepal references all the classics of Himalayan
climbing. The most astounding tale told
is by Maurice Herzog in his book
Annapurna (1952; out of print from
Popular Library).
Permits are required for expeditionary
ventures onto the highest mountains.
Contact the Ministry of Tourism in the
particular host country. If ever granted,
these permits will set you back
$1000-$2000.
In Nepal, a set of peaks under 20,000
feet has been delegated for trekkers, who
must technically get a permit by applying
to the Nepal Mountaineering Association, G.P.O. Box 1435, Ram Shah Path,
Katmandu. Permits are good for a
month, cost about $50 minimum for
each member, and require paper work
and observance of agreed rules.
Realistically, who's to know? The only
ones who would know or care whether
you have a permit might be the border
soldiers. Keep 20 miles away. As long
as you keep a low profile (don't bring 25
porters), stay clear of the dotted
boundary line, and don't die, no one
will bother you. You will still need
ground permits, where required, to get
there and back.
PERMISSION
Visas are obviously needed for each
country. Don't let them run out while
you're in the sticks, even by one day,
or havoc erupts. When doing the
paper routes remember: every other day
is a holiday, so allow time. Suspicious
neighbors make lots of red tape. From
west to east:
currency change; 2) your passport; 3)
three passport photos; 4) itinerary of
your trek (naming major towns, final
destination point, and duration in days);
5) Nepal rupees for permit fee, about
50 cents per day of permit. Do this
before eleven in the morning. Return
a few days later, after 2 pm, to pick up
your papers. Congratulations! You've
just organized your first trek!
Pakistan -Technically, permits are
required to cross between Chitral and
Gilgit, Swat and Gilgit, but this is not
enforced. Same for Hunza, Kashmir,
and Ladakh. No permits are required
within, but one is needed to cross into
Himachal Pradesh. Apply at Tourist
Officer, Srinagar.
Darjeeling - It's ridiculous, but a
general permit is required from Calcutta,
New Delhi (Foreigners Registration
Office) or the Indian embassy. In
addition, trekking in that area requires
permission from the Foreigners Registration Office, Darjeeling, though
you can get by without it.
Garhwal, Himachal ~ r a d e i h- N o
permits needed. No foreigners allowed
at Gangotri, source of the Ganges
River, or near international borders.
Sikkim -In India, apply at the Ministry
of External Affairs, New Delhi, two
months in advance. Bring two photos,
fill out forms. Ask to pick up permit,
which is for three days, valid for two
weeks, in Darjeeling. You also need a
Darjeeling permit (see above). Arrive
in Darjeeling, pick up permit at Inner
Line Office. Immediately get extension
of Darjeeling permit at Foreigners
Registration Office, and proceed to
Sikkim. In Sikkim, immediately get
extension of Sikkim permit to ten days
at Inner Line Office. Trekking is a
legitimate reason for extension. There
are no fees. Check posts are frequent.
O n your way out, hope your India visa,
Darjeeling permit, and Sikkim permit
are all still good, or havoc erupts.
Nepal -Look at your map, then
decide your route exactly. Apply at the
Central Immigration Office, Ram Shah
Path, Katmandu. Immediately request
a visa extension. To do so you need
proof of exchanging $5 per day into
Nepal rupees for every day requested.
Therefore you should bring: 1) a receipt
from a Nepal bank showing proof of
Bhutan -If you pay $100 per day you
get a visa and an arranged jeep tour of
the country. No other way.
Arunachal Pradesh -Off limits.
SOURCES OF F U R T H E R INFO
A free booklet called Trekking in
Nepal is available by writing the Royal
Nepalese Embassy, 2 131 Leroy Place
N.W., Washington D C 20008. Also
see Trekking in the Himalayas, by
Stan Armington (1979, 1982,95 pp.,
new edition to be available in 1982 at
$9.95 postpaid from Hypocyrine Books,
171 Madison Avenue, New York,
NY 10016).
These are libraries within the Himalayas
holding books in English about
the Himalayas:
Numgyal Institute of Tibetology,
Gangtok, Sikkim
The Mountaineering Institute,
Darjeeling, India
Tribhuvan University Library,
Kirtipur, Katmandu
Dharamsala Institute of Tibetan
Studies, Dharamsala, India
Manali Himalayan Center,
Manali, India
Indian sadhu in
Himalayan cave near
source of the Ganges
BOX 428 SAUSALITO CA 94966
Ladakh Public Library, Leh, Ladakh
Fhe absolute most up-to-date informaion about roaming the Nepal Himalayas
s generously supplied by Peace Corps
rolunteers who live in the hills. Check
h e bulletin boards at the Peace Corps
leadquarters, or the Katmandu Guest
-louse, where they congregate while
n town.
LANGUAGE
Language here is fluid. It shifts from
/alley to valley. If you try a phrase you
.earned and mispronounce it, they just
:hink you're from another valley. I
would not head into Nepali-speaking
territory without this booklet: PocketPal (Summer Institute of Linguistics,
Katmandu, $1.25 postpaid from
Mountain Travel, 1398 Solano Avenue,
Albany, C A 94706). It is one phrase
book which is honestly useful, and
5pecifically designed for trekkers. It
vocalizes "Can I buy food here?", "Am
7", "How far
I on. the. trail
o t
is the next village?" Traveling shrinks
your horizons, rather than broadening
them. Your urgent needs become
babyish - food, sleep, hurt - and
soberingly simple to convey in sign
language and baby talk. A hundred or
so thoughts cover all you have to say.
Deeper conversations and sanity can be
kept in a journal.
SAFETY
Trouble is rare. Good insurance is to
114
ook intelligent but poor. If something
ruly unpleasant should occur, at once
notify whoever looks like they have
iuthority or influence: the oldest
3erson in a village, a government clerk,
i n innkeeper. Make clear your good
.ntentions - in a misunderstanding, ten
:o one you're the one who goofed, in
their world. As a woman you can go
alone, and some do, but the bias of the
host cultures is against you.
Farmers on the way to
market, Dal Lake, Kashmir
16,000 feet. For a deeper explanation
;ee Mountain Medicine by Michael
Ward (1975,250 pp., $30 postpaid from
Seekman Publications, 38 Hicks Street,
Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201), or the
sxcellent Medicine for Mountaineering by James Wilkerson [NWECp. 4221.
ALTITUDE SICKNESS
HEPATITIS
This is a significant, though poorly
understood, bad thing that can waylay
persons of any age or physical condition.
That means you. The illness is preventable. It is triggered by a rapid change
to the dilute air of very high altitudes.
Symptoms begin with headaches and
dizziness and finish with coma and
death. Rare air itself can apparently be
tolerated, as the recent ascents of
Everest without auxiliary oxygen prove.
Moral: ascend slowly; the higher, the
slower. If YOU feel dizzy, stop and go
back down to where you didn't. Experience has shown that constant intake
of fluids is vital. Drink enough to
keep your urine clear - if it yellows,
drink more. A good appetite is an
indication of acclimatization. The only
cure is rapid descent. One medicine is
helpful: Diamox. It's a diuretic, so once
again ceaseless fluid intake is vital.
Diamox is available without prescription
in Asia. You really don't need to worry
about this horribleness until you reach
I don't know what to say about hepatitis
ather than I hope you don't get it. A
few years back it was the scourge of
Nepal. It's a virus, like a cold, and like
colds blooms on a body in stress, say a
tired trekking body. Filtering water
does no good, neither do chemicals.
Boiling helps and so does care in where
you drink. Gamma globulin injections
lessen the risk. You need one every
three or four months. There is a new
vaccine being perfected. Get protection
if you can. The cure is two months flat
on your back, as many trekkers can
tell you.
DIARRHEA
Impure water is usually blamed for
diarrhea, a serious problem for visitors.
In towns, be choosy about what you
drink; in the highlands when you're
thirsty you often have little choice.
Water offered as boiled usually isn't.
Boiling your own is a supreme nuisance.
THE COEVOLUTIONQUARTERLY
FALL 1981
We drink iodine. Just squirt an eyedropper full of tincture of iodine into a
canteen, shake, and wait at least fifteen
minutes. Halazone or chlorine tablets
seem t o take a day to dissolve and are
not as effective. Caution: iodine can
stain a mess in your pack if spilled.
After a while water doesn't taste right
unless it's pinked with iodine.
In rare instances when diarrhea strikes,
the treatment is t o wait a day to see if it
disappears, then plug it up if it doesn't.
Tincture of opium or Lomotil do the
trick. Both are sold in Asia without
prescription. We call any diarrhea with
fever and vomiting dysentery, and in
the mountains it should be treated with
antibiotics immediately, though ordinarily that might be rash. Tetracycline,
penicillin and other medicines can be
bought cheaply over the counter
in towns.
Good dry socks keep away blisters, but
I'd bring some blister pads in case.
And a dozen aspirin tablets. Please do
not give pills to hill people who ask. It's
irresponsible medicine.
OTHER DRUGS
Ganja, opium, and hash are prevalent
throughout the range. Wild marijuana
carpets sections of the foothills and
warmer valleys. Not too long ago it was
hardly considered valuable. The
moderate use by some locals is in contrast to the frenzied covetousness shown
by troops of western youths. For many,
dope is a big attraction of the Himalayas.
Kulu Valley has famous handrubbed
hash, shaped by shepherd boys and
exchanged for chocolate. Chitral Valley
specializes in fancy pressed stuff - little
cakes embossed with a gold logo. 1 have
also seen baseball-size lumps of hash
come out of the Solo-Khumbu region
in Nepal. The legality of these drugs is
a hazy point, but they are discouraged
by each of the governments and a few
users are busted.
NATURALLY
Curiously, the crest line of the
Himalayas does not delineate a watershed. Both the front and back sides of
the Himals shed water into the same sea.
Some rivers, like the Brahmaputra, run
a quarterback sneak around the end of
the range. Others, like the Kali
Gandaki, bore clean through the middle
in terrific canyons, four miles deep, a
world extreme. The actual subcontinental divide is traced along the edge
of the Tibetan plateau 100 miles to the
north, and, o n the average, 10,000 feet
lower. Other geological surprises are
Shandur Pass, near
Chitral, Pakistan
BOX 428 SAUSALITO CA 94966
contemplated by Toni Hagen, a Swiss
geologist who spent several decades
mapping Nepal o n foot, and recounted
in his fine, lyrical book, Nepal (1961,
out of print from Kunnerley and Frey,
Berne, Switzerland)
The resident ecologist is Robert Fleming,
Jr. (Box 229, Katmandu, Nepal), author
of T h e General Ecology, Flora a n d
Fauna of Midland Nepal (1978,
Tribhuvan University Press; not available in the United States, write Fleming
for price). Zoologist George Schaller
(Stones of Silence, 1980, $16) and
Master Writer Peter Matthiessen ( T h e
Snow Leopard, 1978, $14) dazzle the
reader with finely tuned observations
of men intertwined with wild animals.
(Both prices postpaid from The Viking
Press, 299 Murray Hill Parkway, East
Rutherford, NJ 07073 or Whole Earth
Household Store ) None can compare
with Jim Corbetts' classic, M a n Eaters
of K u m o a n (1944, out of print from
Oxford University Press), a bouquet of
supreme, loving, and bewitching stories
of man-eating tigers, told in a fierce
beauty that would shame Jack London
The same Robert Fleming, Jr , coauthored with his father, Robert
Fleming, Sr., a wonderfully solid field
guide to the birds of Nepal, Sikkim, and
Kashmir. It's a fine book, practical and
with extensive coverage, called Birds
of Nepal (1979,349 pp., $22 50 postpaid from Mountain Travel). Migration
flyways skimming the mountains and
the contracted climate zones created by
altitude in the tropics provide room for
over 700 species of birds, nearly 400 of
which are found in the Katmandu
Valley alone.
Two other natural-history guides written
for Nepal but useful throughout the
Commoner Butterflies o
History Museum). (Neither is avai
Official maps indicate four national
parks in Nepal (Chitwan, Everest, RaRa,
and Langtang) and two in the Indian
Himalayas (Corbett and Manas). In fact,
all this really means is that an attempt
has been made to accommodate visiting
naturalists, tourists, and dignitaries.
guiding (herding) them along limited
routes within the parks' arbitrary
boundaries. All the while firewood
gathering, deforestation, and poaching
go o n as usual. There is about a twodollar entrance fee at most of them, and
little encouragement to camp on your
own, but it's not difficult to do so in
nearly the same style as trekking.
Would you like to explore a genuine
Himalayan wilderness, so wild that both
maps and libraries are silent about the
region? So distant that not even legends
have returned from it? It's called
Arunachal Pradesh (Province), the
caboose of the Himalayan train, the
easternmost portion of India, where the
Himalayas peter out into Tibet and
Burma. As far as anyone knows there
is one road, nightmarish sweeps of
tropical rain forests, headhunters with
bows and arrows, and untrod icy peaks
biting like holy fangs above the jungle.
Naturally, you're not allowed to visit.
Mountains, even nearby ones, are made
remote by chopped ridges of gravity,
and demand an intelligent energy to
move in their presence. Faraway ones
demand more. G o pilgrim.
Step brightly. m